Island Life; Or, The Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras. Alfred Russel WallaceЧитать онлайн книгу.
Limitations of Geological Time—Time Amply Sufficient both for Geological and Biological Development—Insular Faunas and Floras—The North Atlantic Islands—The Galapagos—St. Helena and the Sandwich Islands—Great Britain as a Recent Continental Island—Borneo and Java—Japan and Formosa—Madagascar as an Ancient Continental Island—Celebes and New Zealand as Anomalous Islands—The Flora of New Zealand and its Origin—The European Element in the South Temperate Floras—Concluding Remarks
Pages 531-545
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| 1. Map showing the Distribution of the true Jays | Frontispiece. |
| 2. Map showing the Zoological Regions | To face 31 |
| 3. Map showing the Distribution of Parus Palustris | To face 66 |
| 4. A Glacier with Moraines (From Sir C. Lyell's Principles of Geology) | 109 |
| 5. Map of the Ancient Rhone Glacier (From Sir C. Lyell's Antiquity of Man) | 110 |
| 6. Diagram showing the effects of Excentricity and Precession on Climate | 127 |
| 7. Diagram of Excentricity and Precession | 129 |
| 8. Map showing the Extent of the North and South Polar Ice | 138 |
| 9. Diagram showing Changes of Excentricity during Three Million Years | 171 |
| 10. Outline Map of the Azores | 248 |
| 11. Map of Bermuda and the American Coast | 263 |
| 12. Section of Bermuda and adjacent Sea-bottom | 264 |
| 13. Map of the Galapagos and adjacent Coasts of South America | 276 |
| 14. Map of the Galapagos | 277 |
| 15. Map of the South Atlantic, showing position of St. Helena | 293 |
| 16. Map of the Sandwich Islands | 311 |
| 17. Map of the North Pacific, with its submerged Banks | 312 |
| 18. Map showing the Bank connecting Britain with the Continent | 333 |
| 19. Map of Borneo and Java, showing the Great Submarine Bank of South-Eastern Asia | 373 |
| 20. Map of Japan and Formosa | 392 |
| 21. Physical Sketch Map of Madagascar (From Nature) | 413 |
| 22. Map of Madagascar Group, showing Depths of Sea | 415 |
| 23. Map of the Indian Ocean | 424 |
| 24. Map of Celebes and the surrounding Islands | 451 |
| 25. Map showing Depths of Sea around Australia and New Zealand | 471 |
| 26. Map showing the probable condition of Australia during the Cretaceous Epoch | 496 |
ISLAND LIFE
PART I
THE DISPERSAL OF ORGANISMS
ITS PHENOMENA, LAWS, AND CAUSES
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
Remarkable Contrasts in distribution of Animals—Britain and Japan—Australia and New Zealand—Bali and Lombok—Florida and Bahama Islands—Brazil and Africa—Borneo, Madagascar, and Celebes—Problems in distribution to be found in every country—Can be solved only by the combination of many distinct lines of inquiry, biological and physical—Islands offer the best subjects for the study of distribution—Outline of the subjects to be discussed in the present volume.
When an Englishman travels by the nearest sea-route from Great Britain to Northern Japan he passes by countries very unlike his own, both in aspect and natural productions. The sunny isles of the Mediterranean, the sands and date-palms of Egypt, the arid rocks of Aden, the cocoa groves of Ceylon, the tiger-haunted jungles of Malacca and Singapore, the fertile plains and volcanic peaks of Luzon, the forest-clad mountains of Formosa, and the bare hills of China, pass successively in review; till after a circuitous voyage of thirteen thousand miles he finds himself at Hakodadi in Japan. He is now separated from his starting-point by the whole width of Europe and Northern Asia, by an almost endless succession of plains and mountains, arid deserts or icy plateaux,